The Power of the Jade Helix
by NancyBG-OldMaidWhovian
Summary: A mysterious object from space crashes into the English woods, and the Doctor must track it down.


**The Power of the Jade Helix**

** The perpetual night of space was lit with a blazing pinpoint of emerald light. It hurtled past the great sun known as Sol, to enter the atmosphere of the blue and white planet below. **

**In Breakstone Wood, the arrow of light buried itself deep under the leaf-strewn floor. The earth gave off a throbbing glow for a few moments. Then, the darkness returned to the woods as if nothing had ever happened. **

**Ruby was awakened by a strange noise. The middle-aged woman sleepily rubbed her close-cropped brunette hair. Reluctantly, she peered out from under the warmth of the duvet. ****The glowing dial of her alarm clock slowly came into focus. It was just past five o'clock in the morning. ****Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Ruby pushed aside the curtain covering the window. A shroud of icy sleet dashed itself against the windowpane. The hiss it made when it hit the glass, had a sinister, oily quality to it. **

**Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash, which lit up the dark winter sky. It seemed quite close, and was followed by a hollow boom. **

**The woman quickly changed into some warm clothing. Grabbing a powerful torch, she left the shelter of her cottage and crossed the frozen mud of the stable yard to the paddock ****Opening the gate, Ruby made her way across the open field, to the woods on the other side. Pushing back the hood of her anorak, she thought it was like trying to look through an arctic sandstorm. ****Out of the corner of her eye, the woman spied a greenish glow coming from the woods. When she turned to look, it had gone. **

**"****Hello?" Ruby shouted, "is anyone there? Are you hurt?" **

**+Greeted by nothing but the sound of the storm, Ruby pushed on. Climbing over the fence, she turned into the woods. When her boot slipped on some ice, Ruby fell. ****Unhurt, the woman tried to shift her foot under her, in order to get a better purchase to stand. Without warning, the earth beneath her began to glow with a ****dark green light. ****There was a strange rumbling from somewhere deep below. **

**Before she could do any more than let out one single, terrified scream, the earth opened up and swallowed Ruby whole. **

**The TARDIS was traveling through the time-space vortex. Although it could technically take the shape of anything, this particular TARDIS was forever stuck with the appearance of being a blue police box from the early nineteen-sixties. **

**Inside the main control room, the column on the console rose and fell with its usual wheezing regularity. ****Beside the console, a small, dark haired man with a rascally face and an odd assortment of clothing was scolding himself for not modifying the chameleon circuit any sooner. The man was thoughtfully tapping his chin with the question mark handle of his umbrella. **

**"****Hmmm–" he murmured, "if I make a slight adjustment to the stabilizer, and then recalibrate the helmick regulator, I may get the chameleon circuit working again. ****But," the Doctor mused, "Do I really want to? Mind you, it would be much easier to find a blue police box in the car park of the outlet mall planet." **

**Doing some quick calculations in his head, the Doctor pressed a button on the console. The TARDIS dropped out of the vortex. ****Abruptly, the TARDIS lurched sideways, then began spinning out of control. ****The Doctor was thrown backwards. His straw hat went rolling away, and the umbrella landed near the TARDIS door. **

**"****I really should install some safety rails in here." The Doctor muttered crossly, as he picked himself up off of the floor. **

**Hauling himself over to the console swaying like a drunken sailor, he frantically punched at the controls, and the TARDIS finally righted herself. **

**"****Ah." The Doctor's frown deepened, as he checked some readings. "Well that would explain it, then. We were attacked just as we entered normal space." **

**Staring at the view screen the Doctor pursed his lips and nodded sagely. The last fading green sparks were streaking towards his favorite planet. ****Several moments passed, then the column on the console stopped moving. The Doctor retrieved his hat and umbrella, and opened the TARDIS door. **

**Stepping outside, the Doctor glanced around. The lead grey sky hurled sleet at him, ****but he seemed not to take much notice. ****Heading towards some woods, the Doctor noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. He watched curiously, as a woman in an anorak emerged from the wood and walked towards the fence. ****The woman looked human, but there was an unnatural green tint to her skin. She walked as if in a trance. The Doctor raised his hat in greeting. **

**"****Hello!" he said cheerfully, "I'm the Doctor. Lovely morning, isn't it?" **

**Instead of replying, the woman raised her arm and pointed it at the Doctor. A beam of green light shot out from her fingers into the Doctor's eyes. For a bare split second, his irises gave off a green glow. Stiffening, the Doctor suddenly became immobile, unable to move or speak. **

**"****You are now in the power of the Helix," the woman said woodenly, "you will obey." **

**"****I will obey." The Doctor repeated tonelessly. **

**Then, he gave the green woman an affable smile. **

**"That is, i****f you ask me nicely, and if the request is perfectly reasonable." the Doctor told her, smiling genially. "****But, I won't have you asking me to juggle porcupines", he shrugged, "I'm afraid I'm rather rubbish at that." **

**The Doctor then stared hard at the woman. As he concentrated his mind on hers, his brow began to bead with sweat, despite the cold weather. ****Trembling, the woman sank to her knees. **

**"****Noooo—!" she shouted in an otherworldly voice, clutching her head, "We are the Helix, nothing can stop us!" **

**Without warning, a green cloud oozed out of her body, slowly dissipating into the snowy floor. The Doctor knelt beside her, as the woman collapsed into a faint. He noted with satisfaction that the odd green pallor had left her skin. A few moments later, Ruby regained consciousness. Almost as abruptly, the raging winter**** storm had ceased, leaving an eerie calm over the land. **

**"****Wh-where am I?" the woman asked shakily. **

**"****Do you remember anything?" The Doctor said gently. **

**"****I had this horrible nightmare." Ruby exclaimed. She hesitated, then looked wildly around. Her eyes showed the Doctor that she comprehended the truth. ****"****Oh my God," she whispered, looking up at the Doctor with horrified eyes, "it wasn't a dream, was it? That…thing, pulled me down into the earth, and took over my mind. I remember now." **

**"****It'll be alright." The Doctor said, as he helped the woman to stand up. **

**"****I'm Ruby, and I can't thank you enough for freeing me." she said. "You're name's ****the Doctor? **

**"****Yes," he nodded,"And a thank you isn't necessary." **

**"****It wants you," Ruby said softly, then gave the Doctor a curious look, "because you're not human, are you?" **

**"****Not precisely, no" the Doctor responded tersely. **

**"****It wants something you have, something inside your head." she told him. "What is that thing?" **

**The Doctor pensively stared at the ice-rimed trees at the edge of the field. **

**"****They want my mind," he stated grimly, "my knowledge of time travel theory. They're an ancient race from the Mecada System, known as the Jade Helix. It's actually a synthetic life form made up of intelligent crystals." **

**"****The Jade Helix?" Ruby pondered, "sounds like some kind of rock band." **

**"****They were formed by morphogenisis from an electrolytic solution. One crystal the size of your fist, can house up to ten thousand Helix. It's a collective race, all their lives and minds linked together to form a single, very powerful consciousness." **

**"****You'd better get inside where it's warm." The Doctor said to her, as he stalked off towards the woods. **

**"****Where are you going?" Ruby called to him. **

**"****To have a little chat with them." The Doctor replied. **

**"****I'm going with you." Ruby declared. "There's no way I'm going to sleep well, until I know these things have been sent packing out of England for good." **

**The Doctor climbed over the fence, and made Ruby promise to go no further. He pulled out the black device again. Ruby looked curiously at the thin, palm-sized box, as it bleeped intermittently. **

**"****What's that?" she asked. **

**"****A blackberry I modified to register thermal signatures." The Doctor muttered, keeping his eyes on the device. How he could be so sure of his footing when he wasn't looking where he was going, Ruby had no idea. **

**"****A what?" Ruby gave the Doctor a baffled glance, staring at the device. "Looks more like some kind of miniature computer." **

**"****Never mind," the Doctor waved her away, "You'll find out all about it, someday." **

**"****I doubt that," she laughed, "I'm what some people might refer to as technologically challenged. Don't even own a VCR. What's that thing do, anyway?" **

**"****One thing the Helix can't handle is abrupt extremes in temperature." The Doctor replied. "It can break down the quartz molecules in its structure. That's why I was ****able to force it to let you go. The heat of its entry into the atmosphere, combined with this cold, has made it weak. This 'thing' I'm holding will tell me where they are." **

**As the device suddenly gave off a series of strident bleeps, the Doctor noted a glow coming from beneath a large oak tree. ****Ruby watched as the Doctor withdrew something from his trouser pocket. He muttered something that she couldn't quite make out. **

**"****What did you say?" she called. **

**"****I was reading the directions." He called back. "They say, light the blue touch paper and stand back.." **

**The Doctor struck a match and lit the firecracker. He tossed it directly on the leaf-covered floor of the wood, and leapt backwards. Almost instantly there was a pop and some smoke. ****Seconds ticked by and nothing happened. The Doctor looked at Ruby and shrugged. **

**"****Nobody home?" The Doctor said to himself, puzzled. **

**Suddenly, the dead leaves collapsed under his feet, and he disappeared. **

**The Doctor found himself in an underground chamber carved out from the earth. It was lit by a dull green glow. The light came from a crystallized rock which was resting on the floor. **

**"****Look, it's early in the morning and I've not yet had my cuppa', so let's, as the Americans would say, 'get down to brass tacks,' hmmm–?" The Doctor chided the aliens.**

**Standing before the crystal, the Doctor frowned in concentration. He spoke to the collective minds of the Helix. **

**"****You're ten thousand light years from home. Why are you here?" **

**In the Doctor's mind, the vibration of many voices spoke as one. The sound hurt, and he winced in pain. **

**"****_We are the Helix. We were destroyed by the Time Lords, but this crystal survived the battle. We were floating dormant through space, but a solar flare from Sol gave us life again. We must survive. The humans will be our slaves, they will become our makers, they will make more of us. We will be strong again_." **

**The Doctor winced, as the vibrating chorus of voices virtually shouted into his mind: **

**"****_Make more! Make more! The makers are gone. The humans will make more. We must survive_!" **

**The Doctor shuddered and broke contact. He rubbed his throbbing temples. **

**"****Yes, that's what I was afraid of." he said out loud. "You were made by scientists, but then you took over their minds, made them manufacture more of the Helix crystals." The Doctor felt anger rising in him. ****"****You worked those who made you literally to death. Then you moved on to other planets, killing millions all in order for you to propagate—and for what? So more of you could enslave and kill? It went on for centuries…until my people stopped you." **

**He paused, watching the Helix distrustfully. **

**"What do you want with me?" **

**In his head, the answer came in the form of a searing pain. The Doctor fell to the floor and cried out, struggling against the invasion of his mind. The collective voices of the Helix continued to chant: **

**"****_When there are more of us we will travel in your TARDIS. We will enslave workers throughout time and space to multiply the Helix race. We will outnumber the stars_." **

**The Doctor's hand shook with effort, as he slipped it into his pocket. His skin slowly began to take on a greenish hue. ****Producing a dog whistle, the Doctor's trembling had put it to his mouth. **

**Ruby was dismally leaning her arms against the fence rail, watching the place where the Doctor had vanished. She was afraid she'd never see him again. ****She was startled when every dog for miles around, began barking. **

**Without warning, an enormous geyser of earth and leaves exploded up from the floor underneath the trees. Ruby ducked as she was showered by fine bits of dirt and small green crystals. **

**"****Doctor!" the woman called, frantically. "Doctor, can you hear me? Where are you?" **

**Ruby thought that the Doctor probably hadn't survived the blast, when a hand shot up from under the debris. Giving a cry of relief, Ruby reached down and grasped the Doctor's hand. **

**As they walked across the paddock together, Ruby listened as the Doctor explained how he'd defeated the Helix. **

**"****Quite simple. Since their quartz-like structure was already weak, I used a sub-sonic high-pitch frequency to shatter the crystals." **

**"****Let me guess," Ruby smiled, "something like a dog whistle?" **

**"****Yes," the Doctor agreed, returning her smile, "that's it precisely. I used to use it for my dog. I kept it on the odd chance I'd need it to destroy a manufactured alien ****crystal." **

**The Doctor stooped down and picked up a handful of the green shining stones. He showed them to her "They're inert now, lifeless. What you'd here on earth would call emeralds." **

**The two of them walked across the white fields. Ruby was confused when they came upon a big blue wooden box near the paddock gate. **

**"****Funny," Ruby said, puzzled, "I don't remember there being a porta-loo out here." **

**The Doctor frowned at her and cleared his throat. **

**"****Actually, I think you'll notice it's a police box. It's also my main mode of transport" he said, patting the box's wooden side affectionately. **

**Ruby watched as the Doctor unlocked the door and went inside. She wondered if the thing was going to sprout wheels or something, when suddenly it gave a horrible groaning noise and disappeared. **

**"****Well, she sighed, "none of the ladies at the guild will ever believe this. Pity. It would have made a delightful lecture."**

**###**


End file.
